At the entrance of Kherbet Daoud - Akkar, in Salon Bella we sat with two enthusiastic, passionate, and eager young ladies; Dounya Mahmoud & Hadya Kanjo. In their beauty salon, the two took us back in time to the days they first dreamt about opening and operating their own beauty salon, "ومن أنا وزغيره حلمي كان إفتح صالون", said Dounya.

Dounya is a 22 year old young lady from Kherbet Daoud, who entered the world of beauty and makeup when she was only 14 years old. She started her journey by studying makeup art in a beauty academy. Then, for about 6 years, she got trained and worked at a professional salon in Halba. Hadya is a 20 year old young lady, who studied Accounting, but found her heart lingering to another life path. For long, she loved beauty and hairdressing.

For the love of brushes and chasing their forever-fetched dream, Dounya and Hadya applied together to the Generation of Innovation Leaders - GIL project implemented by INJAZ Lebanon. Although their passion was always pushing them forward, the two young ladies reflect that they were never financially or psychologically ready to take this step and to open their own business and own beauty salon. Dounya and Hayda also told us that it was not until they joined the GIL trainings, that they got pushed and triggered by their trainer to believe in themselves and in their capabilities, that they started to think they can actually make it; contrary to what they and the people around them used to believe, comments the two ladies.

Today, after completing their incubation, the two young ladies stand tall in their beauty salon that offers you tens of services. A cherry on top of that, and in order to better operate and expand their business, in partnership with UNRWA Dounya and Hadya are offering free hairdressing and makeup applying training sessions to other young underprivileged ladies in the area.To add, the two ladies will integrate evening dresses shop in their salon.

Join us in a virtual visit to Salon Bella where you get to meet Dounya and Hadya. Never forget to share your love and support with them!

All thanks go to UNICEF Lebanon and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Lebanon for supporting and funding; respectively, the GIL project INJAZ Lebanon is implementing across various labs in the North and Bekaa.